Union Cabinet expansion: COVID-19 protocols in place for oath-taking at Rashtrapati Bhavan

The Union Cabinet expansion, which is set to take place on July 7 as per sources, will be the first cabinet reshuffle after the Narendra Modi government returned to power for the second time in 2019. As per sources, 18-20 Ministers are expected to be sworn in with a focus on election-bound states. The Union Cabinet reshuffle will take place at 6 pm on Wednesday at the Durbar Hall in Rashtrapati Bhavan with COVID appropriate protocols in place.

Union Cabinet expansion on July 7

According to sources, only one member wil lbe allowed to accompany a Minister who wil lbe sworn-in.  An RT-PCR test done has been mandated for the attendees while the seats for the meeting will also be arranged as per social distancing norms.

According to sources, Apna Dal (S) leader Anupriya Patel, ex-Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane, former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and Pashupati Kumar Paras have been summoned to Delhi which implies that they might be a part of PM Modi's reshuffled Cabinet. The other names in the race for a Ministerial berth include Pritam Munde, Zafar Islam, Locket Chatterjee amongst others.

New governors ahead of Cabinet reshuffle

Ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion, the Centre on Tuesday appointed new governors for 8 states. The states of Karnataka, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Tripura, Jharkhand, and Haryana were appointed new governors. Thawar Chand Gehlot, a sitting Union Minister for Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has been appointed as the new Governor of Karnataka, leaving yet another Ministerial chair vacant. 

New Governors appointed by Centre:

• Thawar Chand Gehlot has been appointed Governor of Karnataka 
• Hari Babu Kambhampati is appointed as Governor of Mizoram
• Mangubhai Chaganbhai Patel is appointed as Governor of Madhya Pradesh
• Rajendran Vishwanath Arlekar is appointed as Governor of Himachal Pradesh
• PS Sreedharan Pillai is transferred & appointed as Governor of Goa
• Satyadev Narayan Arya is transferred and appointed as Governor of Tripura
• Ramesh Bais is transferred as Governor of Jharkhand 
• Bandaru Dattatreya appointed as Governor of Haryana

IMAGE: PTI